And the attendance figures for the Cubs, as with all major league teams, are inflated since no-shows are counted. In reality, Cubbie attendance has taken a bigger hit.

Not surprising since the Cubs have a 9-game losing streak in the playoffs where they were outscored 57-20. They have not won a post-season game in 10 years and that was two games before Bartman.

The clincher for many Cub fans was 2008 when the team won 97 games only to get swept our of the playoffs. One loss included an error made by every player in the infield. Of course, that marked 100 years without a championship.

Rickets thought he could draw people by dressing like Harry Carey. He found out even goofy Cub fans had their limit. The press is hero-worshiping Theo but if he doesn't deliver, Cub attendance will become a bigger problem. And it's about time.

I saw another sour note the other day. White Sox are the worst road draw in baseball. How the hell is Houston a better draw than us???

2 points on that, a lot has to do with what teams are in your division. For instance Cleveland and KC are in our division and are near the bottom of home attendance in MLB, both of them are averaging around 21,000. When Cleveland was selling out the Jake we would come in there and 42,000 would be on hand, big difference. If we were in the AL East we would be going into NY and Boston and playing in front of near full houses for 18 games in each park, that's 36 near sellouts right there. Toronto and Baltimore also have done well attendance wise this year.

The second point is who wants to see the White Sox, not one superstar on the team, not one guy worth the price of admission except for Sale and he is no Sandy Koufax. This is the biggest bunch of stiffs in Sox history.

__________________Coming up to bat for our White Sox is the Mighty Mite, Nelson Fox.

And the attendance figures for the Cubs, as with all major league teams, are inflated since no-shows are counted. In reality, Cubbie attendance has taken a bigger hit.

Not surprising since the Cubs have a 9-game losing streak in the playoffs where they were outscored 57-20. They have not won a post-season game in 10 years and that was two games before Bartman.

The clincher for many Cub fans was 2008 when the team won 97 games only to get swept our of the playoffs. One loss included an error made by every player in the infield. Of course, that marked 100 years without a championship.

Rickets thought he could draw people by dressing like Harry Carey. He found out even goofy Cub fans had their limit. The press is hero-worshiping Theo but if he doesn't deliver, Cub attendance will become a bigger problem. And it's about time.

The linked article mentions it and I've posted here before about the "announced attendance" (and got bashed by the person who started this thread, go figure...). For all the boasting by the Cubbies, their fans and the media about the Cubbies popularity and their attendance, it's surprising to me how little coverage their actual attendance gets. Good to see Gordon W. write about it.

I heard a very brief segment of the Cubbies radio broadcast today at around 3:30PM. They mentioned there was "the wave" going around Wrigley today. Les Grobstein's head must have exploded as he's claimed regularly that the wave never happens at Wrigley.

__________________DrCrawdad"In time you can turn these obsessions into careers...Hurry Down Doomsday the bugs are taking over." - Elvis Costello

The linked article mentions it and I've posted here before about the "announced attendance" (and got bashed by the person who started this thread, go figure...). For all the boasting by the Cubbies, their fans and the media about the Cubbies popularity and their attendance, it's surprising to me how little coverage their actual attendance gets. Good to see Gordon W. write about it.

I heard a very brief segment of the Cubbies radio broadcast today at around 3:30PM. They mentioned there was "the wave" going around Wrigley today. Les Grobstein's head must have exploded as he's claimed regularly that the wave never happens at Wrigley.

We're on the same page, for once. I have made sure not to mention this article to Hangar, as his head (and other things) may have exploded in glee.

The Cubs attendance for sure this year has been carried by tourists and fans of the other team. Every time they are playing rivals like the Cardinals, Reds, or Brewers, I see thousands of people in the other teams' gear on the l or in and around the neighborhood (I live pretty close to Wrigleyville). If they had to play a season at the Cell to work on Wrigley, they'd struggle to get 15,000 per game to watch this product.

Supply and demand is catching up with them. They've had declining turnouts over the last couple of disappointing years, but the perceived demand kept advanced ticket sales (by both fans and ticket brokers) going strong until now.

People like to believe the myth that the Cubs "always draw 3 million fans no matter what." But, the reality is that this has only been going on for the last 15 years and started with the Sosa/McGuire HR mania in '98. Since then, the Cubs have had enough good years over that time to keep attendance from slipping much.

In 1997, they drew 2.19M fans. After that, they had the 1998 playoff berth/HR race and then Sosa was a huge draw for several years afterwards until his shocking fall from grace. The 2003 playoff run boosted attendance after the Sosa circus was over and of course in 2004 the Chicago media was counting down the days to the Cubs inevitable pennant. Since then, they haven't had (until now) enough bad seasons in a row to see significant drops in attendance. They did start seeing some empty seats in '06 as fans were stung by the Sox WS win followed by the Cubs subsequent 96 loss season. But, the Trib opened up their checkbook to nip that in the bud and got the team back in the playoffs for '07 and '08. The '07-'08 playoff seasons kept ticket sales sky high for a few years but now their attendance figures are coming back down to earth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by doublem23

The Cubs attendance for sure this year has been carried by tourists and fans of the other team. Every time they are playing rivals like the Cardinals, Reds, or Brewers, I see thousands of people in the other teams' gear on the l or in and around the neighborhood (I live pretty close to Wrigleyville). If they had to play a season at the Cell to work on Wrigley, they'd struggle to get 15,000 per game to watch this product.

That's always going keep Cubs attendance respectable even during lean years. That's what irks me about people constantly saying that Cubs fans are great fans and Sox fans are terrible fans because of attendance. So much of that is driven by people who are going to Wrigley because of the neighborhood and because of the ballpark's fame.

No denying that the Cubs have that going in their favor, but that doesn't make their fan base better than Sox fans.

Another thing I learned today comes courtesy of Jeff Samardzija, in an article in today's Tribune about the possibility of the Cubs losing 50 games at home this year. According to Jeff, they were "lights out at home" last year, and "kind of struggling on the road to get their rhythm".

Hmm....a quick look back at their 2012 season (that would be a 101 loss season) - shows they were 38-43 at home, and 23-58 on the road. So, 5 games under .500 is "lights out" now ? 35 games under .500 is "kind of struggling" on the road ?

This is good to know, because by those standards, the White Sox, 32-34 at home so far, are LIGHTS OUT at U.S. Cellular. I don't feel so bad now.......

Another thing I learned today comes courtesy of Jeff Samardzija, in an article in today's Tribune about the possibility of the Cubs losing 50 games at home this year. According to Jeff, they were "lights out at home" last year, and "kind of struggling on the road to get their rhythm".

Hmm....a quick look back at their 2012 season (that would be a 101 loss season) - shows they were 38-43 at home, and 23-58 on the road. So, 5 games under .500 is "lights out" now ? 35 games under .500 is "kind of struggling" on the road ?

This is good to know, because by those standards, the White Sox, 32-34 at home so far, are LIGHTS OUT at U.S. Cellular. I don't feel so bad now.......

Old Jeff is in denial. Contrast this with Paulie's take on it. When Konerko was asked to explain the disparity between the Sox home and road record this year, his reply was: "I'm sure we played like **** at home too"

__________________
The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done." -George Carlin

The old "Cubbies sell out no matter what" thing has always been an urban myth. **** 'em. They are terrible, and no one should be surprised if "Theo's" master plan fails. Future Hall of Famer Jorge Soler hasn't played since June, and Mike Olt sucks. Those *******s think Samardzija is an ace, too. The ****er has a 4.29 ERA in the National League. Best pitcher in Chicago.

Samardzija would be the No. 4 starter on the miserable, woeful 2013 White Sox.